DNA Methylation

David P Hornby, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

Published online: March 2002

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001165

DNA methylation occurs in most living organisms and is the enzyme-mediated transfer of a methyl group from S-adenosyl-l-methionine to specific cytosine or adenine bases within the genome of that organism. The biological consequences of DNA methylation are thought to be diverse, ranging from resistance to bacteriophage infection in microorganisms to the programming of gene expression in mammals.

Keywords: epigenetics; restriction and modification; S-adenosyl-l-methionine; DNA methyltransferase; methyl transfer; cytosine; adenine; 5-methylcytosine

 References
    Baylin SB, Belinsky SA and Herman JG (2000) Aberrant methylation of gene promoters in cancer – concepts, misconcepts, and promise. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 92: 1460–1461.
    Bestor T, Laudano A, Mattaliano R and Ingram V (1988) Cloning and sequencing of a cDNA encoding DNA methyltransferase of mouse cells. The carboxyl-terminal domain of the mammalian enzymes is related to bacterial restriction methyltransferases. Journal of Molecular Biology 203: 971–983.
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    Chen L, MacMillan AM, Chang W et al. (1991) Direct identification of the active-site nucleophile in a DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase. Biochemistry 30: 11018–11025.
    book Dryden D (1999) "Bacterial DNA methyltransferases". In: Cheng X and Blumenthal RM (eds) S-Adenosylmethionine-dependent Methyltransferases: Structure and Function, pp. 283–340. Singapore: World Scientific Press.
    Jones PA and Laird PW (1999) Cancer epigenetics comes of age. Nature Genetics 21: 163–167.
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    Li E, Bestor TH and Jaenisch R (1992) Targeted mutation of the DNA methyltransferase gene results in embryonic lethality. Cell 69: 915–926.
    book Noyer-Weidner M and Trautner TA (1993) "Methylation of DNA in prokaryotes". In: Jost J-P and Saluz HP (eds) DNA Methylation: Molecular Biology and Biological Significance, pp 95–103. Basel: Birkhauser.
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 Further Reading
    book Kornberg A and Baker TA (1992) DNA Replication, 2nd edn. New York: WH Freeman.
    book Noyer-Wiedner M and Trautner TA (1993) Methylation of DNA in prokaryotes. In: Jost J-P and Saluz HP (eds) DNA Methylation: Molecular Biology and Biological Significance, pp. 39–108. Basel: Birkhauser.

Related Sub-Topics:

Protein Structure | Nucleic Acid Structure | Transcription | Transcription of DNA | Transcriptional Regulation | Chromosomes and Chromatin Modifications | DNA Structure and Function | Biomolecular Interactions | Proteins: Structure, Function, Metabolism | Nucleic Acids: Structure, Function, Metabolism
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Article Title: DNA Methylation
 
How to Cite close
Hornby, David P(Mar 2002) DNA Methylation. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001165]